The lockdown induced by the Covid-19 pandemic has stalled the upgrade of three sluice gates on the Kangsabati river in East Midnapore district, triggering fears that over 30 villages will be flooded in the monsoon this year also.

The irrigation department had started the re-construction of the sluice gates at Garpurshottam, Radhabon and Gopalhazra in Panskura and Pingla blocks in January.

The Rs 4-crore project once completed would save the East Midnapore and West Midnapore villages from the annual flooding.

“If we don’t restart the project immediately, then several villages will be flooded in the coming monsoon,” said a labourer attached to a private contractor in Pingla. He said the project was supposed to completed by mid-June.

The three sluice gates are located in a radius of 20km. The largest sluice will be built at Garpurshottam at Rs 2 crore.

“We were happy when the work began this year. But with the project on halt, things will be the same this year,” said Sheikh Abdul, a resident of Garpurshottam.

Sluices are vital part of rivers in India and crucial for people who live close to their banks and depend on agriculture.

“Thirty villages will face floods in the coming monsoon,” said an official in the irrigation department.

He said 10m-deep trenches had been built for the three sluice gates but concretisation completed up to a height of 2m only. “Even wards 14 and 15 in Panskura municipality will me submerged if the sluices are not ready before the rains,” said the official.

East Midnapore district irrigation engineer Anirban Bhattacharya said as the lockdown had been extended till April 30, consultations with higher-ups were needed to see what could be done to resume the project.

Ajit Maity, the contractor, said he would ensure that labourers followed social distancing if the work resumed.

“We have to start the work immediately. We also have to follow social distancing. There is no other way. I had appealed to the administration to allow the work. I have 50 workers to feed,” he said.